Lets talk Luggage...and packing.

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Battymum - would it be cheaper to buy the Ipad in the US?????

 

[Andona]

for the life of me I will not wear them.
I try to not be out in the sun long and I do slap on the sunscreen, but I just feel so constricted, claustrophobic or something wearing one of those. I have had several skin cancers removed, but that was from bad habits as a kid.
!

You sound just like my DH - he had a melanoma removed from his back last year but he refuses to let me buy him a rashie for our trip

I'm thinking of taking industrial sized containers of Invisible Zinc...

Andona

 

[battymum]

Battymum - would it be cheaper to buy the Ipad in the US?????

We are going to Japan!

Maybe it will be cheaper there - but I cant wait that long!!

And Apple tends to fix their prices worldwide!

 

[Sugarglider]

Yes shuttrgirl, i was thinking I would put my camera bag in it. I am def getting two of these and two medium samsonites. The inlaws usually want to buy us something for Christmas, while I don't like to put in an order I will def be sending some hints. So I will wait and see what Santa brings! Luggage seems to be perpetually on sale at strandbags!

Hi Battymum - I know I am interfering in your convo with Ms. Shuttergirl - but I just wanted to check - you are not considering leaving the camera in a suitcase you check in when flying - no?

I bought this bag from Vera Bradley when in Orlando last year. I have no idea about luggage and what is a good price or not. I am way happy with the bag - it is much better quality than anything I have ever owned. Best of all it is expandable for all my extra shopping! It comes with a simple dust cover, that is open at the bottom, and I store it in the top of our wardrobe.

 

[Kangarucci]

Lovely looking suitcase Sugarglider!

 

[alicia1506]

Hi Battymum - I know I am interfering in your convo with Ms. Shuttergirl - but I just wanted to check - you are not considering leaving the camera in a suitcase you check in when flying - no?

I bought this bag from Vera Bradley when in Orlando last year. I have no idea about luggage and what is a good price or not. I am way happy with the bag - it is much better quality than anything I have ever owned. Best of all it is expandable for all my extra shopping! It comes with a simple dust cover, that is open at the bottom, and I store it in the top of our wardrobe.

Yes!! Adore this!! This is the upright in the same set as the rolling tote i am currently lusting after. If only VB was ever on sale

 

[JessNewbs]

Def need rashies - although my kids always wore them
(even at night, they say it keeps them warmer - ) I always found rashies to be easier to put on than sunscreen!

When are you going? We went in September and while it was super hot - I dont think the sun was actually as harsh as here - didnt seem to burn as quick!

We are going in May. I have heard that the heat there is really bad. We took our littlies to QLD once and they got so burnt that my lil one blistered on her little cheeks just from a little glare on an overcast day. Just wondering if it is that type of heat/sun?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We are going to Japan!

Maybe it will be cheaper there - but I cant wait that long!!

And Apple tends to fix their prices worldwide!

Doh, of course you are going to Japan. Ignore me

 

[battymum]

Hi Battymum - I know I am interfering in your convo with Ms. Shuttergirl - but I just wanted to check - you are not considering leaving the camera in a suitcase you check in when flying - no?

I bought this bag from Vera Bradley when in Orlando last year. I have no idea about luggage and what is a good price or not. I am way happy with the bag - it is much better quality than anything I have ever owned. Best of all it is expandable for all my extra shopping! It comes with a simple dust cover, that is open at the bottom, and I store it in the top of our wardrobe.

No I was thinking of putting my camera bag inside the rolling duffel as carryon. I have a micro 4/3, evil, (whatever you want to call it, but is not as bulky as a dslr) so my camera bag is not huge. I can put spare lenses inside a plastic lunch box- I will just carry it until someone pulls me up for having too many carryons and I will fit it inside and take it out before putting it in the overhead. DH has a cross body bag that will fit an ipad and the passports.

I dont tend to use anything I pack in my carryon as basically I find it too bothersome to get the bag out of the overhead bins. But you do need to have anything valuable with you and a change of underwear!

I let my kids be in charge of their own!
(note to self: check DS's bag for any usb sticks shaped like bullets!!)

 

[frangipanisam]

Just after some opinions about buying luggage.

I've been looking on eBay because I don't think I can justify buying a set from the likes of Strandbags at the moment but this might change, I need to go have a decent look to compare the cost, sizes and weights.

These are the two sets I'm looking at after comparing the sizes and weights of the different sets available because they have great dimensions and are not too heavy per piece.

A) http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5pc-Suit...5844?pt=AU_Travel_Luggage&hash=item2a2156d794
(Weight for two largest bags: 3.5kg and 3kg)

B) http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-Piece-...2546?pt=AU_Travel_Luggage&hash=item519ffd0e22

Thoughts would be much appreciated

Also with locks, is it best to go with TSA approved so they don't get cut off in customs?

 

[Andona]

Also with locks, is it best to go with TSA approved so they don't get cut off in customs?

Definitely go with TSA locks. It's better than running the risk of having them cut off or travelling with unlocked bags

Andona

 

[Feej]

Just today, we were out and got our luggage for October. Got 3 American Tourister Prismo 75cm cases for a great price.

They look great, and look to have a lot of space for bringing home lots of stuff.

 

[robynrainer]

For any melbournites.... Sirocco in Elizabeth street opposite st Francis church are closing down and have in a massive sale. Lots of super lite 4 wheel luggage to drool over!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Definitely go with TSA locks. It's better than running the risk of having them cut off or travelling with unlocked bags

Andona

I have to agree with this one.

 

[Marlea98]

For our trip last year I bought the largest possible size allowable for our internal flights (Delta's baggage sizes were smaller than Virgin's). I bought 4 suitcases from Strandbags http://www.strandbags.com.au/luggage/lanza-wm-iii-29in-suitcase/3065404 and we each had a basic backpack from Anaconda that I paid $10 each for. I also carried a soft Witchery Kids bag for snacks and crap, plus our camera bag. I put my small handbag into the Witchery bag for the flight.

I ended up buying a gorgeous Dooney and Burke bag in Vegas so the old handbag went into the luggage and eventually handed to DD to use.

We bought heaps of stuff and bought some soft sports bags from Walmart as we travelled before coming home, we also bought a rolling Motorcross gear bag for my son to use when he goes to races etc. We did post home heaps of the summer stuff we'd worn on the cruise and in Mexico as we knew we wouldn't need it again for the trip.

The only real problem we had with the luggage was that it was often hard to fit into our hire cars. It was like playing luggage Jenga at times and we found it limited us to certain types of vehicles (ie: something with big boot space - a Jeep Cherokee was not big enough to easily fit 4 suitcase, a MX bag and 2 soft sports bags).

Next time, hubby wants to travel with 1 suitcase for the 4 of us on the way over (as if ) but I'm thinking of taking 2 suitcases and just buying cheap duffle bags over there as we go - that way you can mould the bags around space. We'll also travel a lot lighter than last time. I bought lots of new clothes before we left, plus we bought more when we were there. Next time I'll take the bare minimum (we're doing a week at WDW before our cruise) and shop when we get there and live in those clothes. We're also planning on touring through Tennessee, Georgia, New Orleans, Texas, the flying to Montana or Canada then back to L.A for DL before coming home (that's this week's plan anyway) so that's going to pose more clothing problems for us.

I would like to get a new camera bag for next time to make room for the new lenses we've bought for our DSLR since coming home, though. I can't fit them into our existing bag.

Something I would do different again, as well; I'd put our dirty underwear in a clear plastic bag (like the ones sheets/doonas come in) - I was mortified when the TSA people opened up the bag I had I had all the dirty undies in to check the contents I always bag up dirty undies to keep them as far away as possible from other clothes we plan to wear again. If I was rich I'd buy new undies for every day and throw away the used ones to avoid that embarrassment again...

 

[Caroline NZ]

The only real problem we had with the luggage was that it was often hard to fit into our hire cars. It was like playing luggage Jenga at times and we found it limited us to certain types of vehicles (ie: something with big boot space - a Jeep Cherokee was not big enough to easily fit 4 suitcase, a MX bag and 2 soft sports bags).

Next time, hubby wants to travel with 1 suitcase for the 4 of us on the way over (as if ) but I'm thinking of taking 2 suitcases and just buying cheap duffle bags over there as we go - that way you can mould the bags around space. ...

We plan on hiring a big car, however we still go with just 2 hard sided suitcases. The rest of the luggage will be soft sided sports bags, so like you say above they can be moulded around everything else.

 

[Marlea98]

We rented through Enterprise and they were great. Just be careful of where you book - not all depots have big cars in stock. We had a Dodge Ram ute in Anaheim but the largest we could get from Vegas was the Jeep. I'm wanting an Escalade next time

 

[ky71]

Suitcases:-
My family has a varied selection of hard sided spinner cases. We only take 4 for the 5 of us but which size ones we take depends on our class of plane travel and where we are holidaying!

Carryon:-
We use two rolling spinner carry on hard shell cases and then everyone else carries a soft back pack (even when they say "I don't have anything in there").
We often utilise a couple of 'ocy straps' (those elastised tie down straps you can use on the roof rack or trailer) when we are travelling at odd hours to keep all our stuff together. We tie the carry on bag on top of the larger case and wheel it together.

Take it All?/Pack Light?
Except when I'm packing co-ordinating disney shirts, I'm a super light packer. DH however is NOT. He packs for every season and simply has to have 4 pairs of shoes no matter which country we are heading to-lol. For me I just pack the shoes I'm wearing on the plane and that's it! No packing cubes/bags here but I do insist on packing everyone's clothing between ALL of the cases. In case of lost luggage!

We also pack one of the rolling carry on cases with a full outfit for each person plus swimmers, spare tee shirt (to sleep in or in case of spills) and this one also has enough toiletries to get us through a day/night in case ALL our luggage goes amiss. It also allows us to use Magical Express at WDW and not worry about when our luggage arrives if we want to swim before parks.

Just quietly, I do consider myself a packing queen so I pack my whole family's stuff (after they basically decide what 'must haves' they want to include) and I use every available bit of space. We usually take one of the suitcases inside the larger one on the way to our destination (that's 3 suitcases checked in for 5px) and then I can be a bit hap hazard on the return journey plus we have room for all the usual trinklets (and scrapbooks).

 

[alicia1506]

i have to buy new luggage...

my large suitcase was damaged by a conveyor belt/airline in vegas, so the handle no longer telescopes without some serious grunt work involved. carlo's rolling duffle is now minus one strap which got caught (lord only knows how..) in a conveyor belt in lax and has ripped off and ripped part of the bag, and one of our large suitcases was torn... i have no idea how it happened.

am seriously considering some large hard sided spinner cases this time round... looking for bargains, and hoping i find a job soon to finance all these purchases i need to make

 

[australiankaren]

without the aid of wine OR chocolate
I have culled for my 28 days away to:

7 t shirts that match all shorts
8 shorts (3 pool, 5 park)
2 jumpers/cardi (1 good, 1 casual)
2 singlets,
7 frocks (cant help it)
1 dress pants and shirt
4 pairs of togs (as i hate putting on wet ones)
assorted undies, socks and bras
1 tracki dacki
1 coverall for the pool
1 pj's

shoes:
2 pairs of thongs, 1 heels, 1 ballet, 1 sandshoes

other:
2 pair sunnies
2 hats
2 blankies for the plane
1 pillow

assorted toiletries/medications

kindle
ipod
ipad
reading glasses

passport
cards
wallets
lanyard
cash

now if my parcels arrive that will add 5 more tshirts

so, so proud.